


The Void is Full of Color

by SpinnerOfSpiels



Category: Original Work
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Depression, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Sad, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-13
Updated: 2014-07-13
Packaged: 2018-02-08 15:59:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1947279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpinnerOfSpiels/pseuds/SpinnerOfSpiels
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone sees in black and white until they meet their Soulmate, whose name appears on their wrist at midnight on their sixteenth birthday. </p><p>Being able to see color is something everyone swears is fantastic and life-changing. One young man has always dreamed for the chance to not only see in color, but find that one special person who would love him.</p><p>A young woman is terrified of finding her Soulmate. She knows that her One will be disappointed the moment they meet and  doesn't want the false hope of finding her One only to be alone again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little idea I thought up in my head and decided to try and write. The actual idea of not seeing color until you find your Soulmate is from some genius on tumblr. Don't ask what time period this is set in, because if have no idea myself. I have no Beta and so, all mistakes are my own.
> 
> Tw: mentions of a stroke in this chapter
> 
> Sorry there's no dialogue in this chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Has this been done before? This has probably been done before. Oh, well.

When she was born, her parents were horrified.

They asked the doctor if there was anything he could do or if their was any treatment which could fix their daughter. The doctor shook his head sadly and the nurses looked on in sympathy. He told them to wait until her sixteenth birthday and then ask her if she wanted the injection. The parents were in despair and went to every doctor in the country to try and find a cure for their little girl, but every single one turned them away with the same answer of 'just wait'.

The little girls was named Cassandra, though she was preferred to be called Cassie. She had a happy, if secluded childhood and grew up to be quite smart. She had loose, red curls that fell past her waste and fair skin, save for the few faint patches of freckles that decorated the bridge of her nose and cheeks, as well as the top of her shoulders. She loved to read, her fingers brushing over the worn and wrinkled pages of long unused books. She would spend hours curled into a tight nook or under a window reading until the servants found her and carried the sleeping girl back to her room after marking her page. She hated math with a passion and was never able to sit still for very long. She would spend her days outside with her toes curled in the grass and a pile of books at her finger tips. She made friends with all of the servants that worked for her family and tried hard to remember to thank them when they did anything for her, even though her mother reprimanded her for it.

She ate dinner with her parents every night, making small talk and smiling brightly. Her father, Frank, worked at the bank in town. As the Chief Accountant, he spent his day pouring over books and charts and recording each new thing he found. Her mother, Charlotte, was an excellent seamstress. When asked why she bothered to work, she would reply with a distracted 'because I enjoy what I do' before returning to mending a coat or fashioning a corset. Dinner was filled with conversation on how the other two had spent their day and what the one asking had done with theirs.

She was twelve when she learned not to ask about Soulmates.

Earlier in the week, Ana, one of the new servant girls had been sitting with her after bringing Cassie her lunch. Cassie had been reading when Ana had cleared her throat and told her that she had brought sandwiches out for the young girl. Cassie had smiled and asked if she would sit with her for a while. Ana, being nervous about getting caught, had flusteredly refused, but Cassie had waved her off, saying that the servant girl could blame her if she got into trouble for it later. After a few failed attempts at awkward conversation, moments of stretching silence, and laughter at the silliness of the situation, both had settled into a relaxed acquaintanceship and had opened up to the other. Cassie told her about a few of the books she had read, about her favorite characters, and how badly she wanted to travel. In return Ana, sounding horribly embarrassed, yet blissfully happy had told her in a rushed whisper that she had met her One at the market the other day. After her initial confusion and some clarification from Ana, Cassie had asked her all kinds of questions about Ones and the Colors people got to see after the initial meeting. It became routine after that for Ana to bring Cassie her lunch and fill her heart and head full of the idea that there was someone out there for her, just for her! And oh, Colors! How she wished she could see Color. It sounded just like the magic she had read of in her Fantasy novels and she yearned toward the idea that one day she might be able to see all of it.

One night, at dinner, Cassie asked her parents if they could see in Color and if they were each others Soulmates, after all some Soulmates decided to stay friends, instead of marrying like most did. The table had gone deathly silent and the air in the room turned cold and tense. The servant had fled, quickly clearing away dirty dishes and pushing loaded carts out of the doors, to the kitchen. Her parents had been silent for a while, and Cassie had made an unhappy noise in the back of her throat, meaning to take back her question, before her mother interrupted her half formed sentence, asking in a tense whisper where she had heard about Colors and Soulmates. Cassie told them about Ana and all of her wonderful stories, how she had met her one and how Cassie wanted to see Color and fall in love with her One too. Her mother had run out of the room sobbing and Frank had hissed at her to go to her room and never mention anything to do with Colors or Soulmates near her mother again. After that night, she didn't hear from Ana anymore, learning from eavesdropping on servants that she had been beaten and fired. Her lunch was brought to her by a different servant every day and none of them were allowed to stay longer than the time it took to drop off her meals. Cassie pushed her parents for details and begged them to tell her anything about Soulmates. She was constantly bugging them for information of any kind and after a few days of such an insistent onslaught her father had snapped. The last straw was the day she interrupted him while he was working out an accidental recording which had cost the client a lot of money, the bank its good reputation and had almost cost Cassie's father his job. She was asking about the Colors and why the servants couldn't find books on the subject. She hadn't seen her father get up and was shocked at the sharp pain that spread across her cheek, she had lost her balance and tumbled to the floor, tears falling down her face as Frank yelled and raged at her before her mother and a few servants came in and calmed him down. 

Cassie lost hope that day. She didn't go outside anymore and hardly thanked the servants. She only spoke to her parents when she had to and her answers were short and cold. She was a walking shell, empty and dark.

Cassie didn't ask about Colors or Soulmates and flinched away at the very mention of them.

After all, a blind girl like her would never be able to see Color, never mind seeing her One's name.

 

~~~

 

When he was born his mother had gushed over him as she held him in her arms, while his father had smiled lovingly down at him with one hand on her shoulder. He had brown hair that rose and fell in waves that refused to be tamed and green eyes that held a curiosity and fire that was intense for one so young. They had taken him home and shown him to his siblings, the two eldest, twin girls, had cooed and congratulated their mother on the healthy birth, holding the babe, letting him pull on their long hair and imagining he was their own. The three younger boys took one look at the babe and said he looked like a sack of wrinkles and had then made plans for him to join in their games, as soon as he could walk, of course. 

His name was Evan and he was a trouble maker all growing up. He learned to climb almost before he could walk and flinging food, he found was much more fun than actually eating it, much to the exasperation of his parents. At age six, his favorite activity was drawing on walls with anything that would stain and at age ten, he helped him mother garden by pulling up plants behind her. His parents were exhausted by his efforts and yet they never yelled at him or hit him. They would sit him down and explain what he had done wrong, how to fix it and what to do if there was a next time. 

He was thirteen when his parents took him to see his grandmother, Clara, a little old woman with long gray hair that was constantly held in a tight bun and who smelled of ancient rain, warm bread and old coins, she had a mischievous sparkle in her green eyes (Evan inherited those from her) and had seemingly endless patience. Her Soulmate had died of a stroke a few years earlier and his name, Charles Roy Jr., had become an outline on her wrist, the cobalt color that had filled it draining out and disappearing when he had passed. Her house was small and sat near the edge of town with a few trees scattered around the property and a well that had been filled in years ago . The house was constantly filled with the smell of baked treats and no one ever left hungry.

She would sit with him and tell him about Colors and Soulmates and he soon became enamored with the idea of Soulmates. For hours he would sit on a ledge or a counter and help bake treats as she wove ancient stories of how the Soul names had come to be. Starting with the creation of a new race and a great and awesome God who ruled over the young race of humanity. He provided for them and gave them safety and comfort from the dangers of the world and most of the humans were contented with the way things were, living their lives in peace and happiness. Sadly not all of the humans were happy, there were some that wanted more power, more control over their fate and these greedy people banded together and rebelled against their God. They converted people over to their 'religion' with violence; forcing all of those who did not submit into slavery, if not outright killing them. When the God once again turned His great eye upon the earth, He witnessed the once happy peoples sorrow and in a great rush of anger He took a single part of every humans soul and turned it into another person. The people cried out as their souls ached for its missing piece and begged for forgiveness, but the God would not be moved. The God's wife, however, took pity on the naive race, although she was not able to undo her husbands butchery of their souls, she could give them the chance to redeem themselves. She took the color from their vision and told them she would place upon their skin the names of their Soulmate, they would know they had found the other half of their soul when they again saw the world in color.

Evan was fascinated by these stories and was upset every time he had to go home. He wanted to meet his other half and fall in love with them, he dreamed of seeing in color and awaited his sixteenth birthday impatiently. When he was fourteen his eldest sister met her One, Hunter. He was taller than Evan's mother, but shorter than his father, he was a black smith and despite being well built for the job, Hunter was oddly gently with every thing he touched. He looked at Evan's sister like she had blessed the earth and she looked at him similarly. They would gaze at each other, getting lost in the planes of the others existence for what would have been hours if not interrupted. She was nineteen and he was twenty two and they courted each other with gifts and notes and went on dates (which were surveyed by the adults) for almost a year before announcing their engagement. Evan's other sister, twin of the bride-to-be, watched them with a mix of jealousy, yearning, and happiness for her sister. She took great joy in teasing her future brother-in-law, as he blushed and stuttered over any mildly risque thing she said and she would laugh gaily until the future bride would save her poor, innocent husband. Evan's oldest brother was seventeen and had met his soul mate, but they had decided to stay friends for now, not an uncommon decision, but Evan secretly hoped that she would marry his brother one day. He liked Elise, she was funny and smart and nice and Evan wished she was a part of his family. Evan's other brothers were both sixteen, with three month between them and neither had met their soul mate, though Evan hoped that when they did, their One's would tame the two rascals at least a little, and then there was Evan at fourteen, awaiting the his sixteenth birthday with a hopeful heart and a wide smile.

On the actual day of his sixteenth birthday, Evan was a rush of energy, wondering what his or her name would be and what they would look like, if they liked to draw as much as Evan did or if they had a nice laugh. His hair was still a defiant mess and his green eyes were still full of a zeal for life and everything in it. He was constantly told to calm down, but to no avail. He was so excited! He wished that he could meet them, but for now a name would have to do. His grandmother laughed at his antics and Hunter had grinned at him and told him as much as he could about the Colors. His siblings had no patience for him and his parents sent him on small errands to get him out of the house. He didn't want to sleep as he was scared he would miss feeling his Soul name come in, but was finally convinced to go to bed after dinner (and a much needed bath.) As he settled in, exhaustion caught up with him and he fell into sleep.

He was woken up by a burning in his chest, it felt like his heart was on fire! Stripping off his shirt, he glanced down at the cream colored words that looked delicate and heart stoppingly beautiful as they etched themselves onto his skin. Saying the name, his heart missed a beat and his breath caught in his chest. It was perfect, her name was perfect. Everything about it felt so right.

_Cassandra Marie Aldaine._


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, look dialogue.

Cassandra Marie Aldaine woke to a painful burning sensation running up and down the entirety of her spine. Biting into the pillow to muffle any noises, she took a deep breath and relaxed her body, taking note of where the pain was coming from and who or what was inflicting it upon her. Shifting slightly and hissing through her teeth as the pain flared, she rolled onto her stomach and slid the blanket off of her naked body. First, there was no weight on her back and the pain was too, well, not painful, like getting a particularly rough and hot massage, so that ruled out assassins. Second, couldn't be particularly rough and hot massage as there was no wei- Groaning she buried her face in her pillow as she realized what the pain in her back was. 

Her Soul name was coming in.

She had already decided not to take the injection until after she had met her Soulmate, it wouldn't be fair to them if she died and they had never met. She wanted to be able to explain why she was taking the injection and encourage them to try and live a normal life without her. In all honesty, Cassie was terrified of receiving the injection, she wanted to live, to be happy, but she was blind so...she would never be happy,...right? Or maybe her Soulmate would bump into her like so many people had, their world would fill with color, and they would turn around, ready to embrace their Soulmate, only to find that she was blind, disfigured worse than any other handicap and they would keep walking, because no one wanted to be stuck with a cripple. Tears gathered in her eyes, but she shook them away, no, she would be strong and confront her Soulmate, whether they wanted her or not, and explain to them why it was better for her to take the injection.

Sighing and running her hands through her auburn curls, Cassie patted the surface of her night stand until her fingers hit the surface of the book she was looking for. Opening it up and running her fingers along the fine, raised bumps of braille on the page, she found her spot and continued reading about the dragon colony living on the other side of a young girls mirror. She had to set the book down a few times when the pain got too bad and at one point it hurt so much that she had to brush a few stray tears from her cheeks, but after that the pain lessened quite a bit and she was able to fall back asleep.

Waking up, Cassie opened her eyes and then snorted in an unladylike way at the irony of the movement, after all, what was the point of opening your eyes if you were blind? Swinging her legs over the side of the bed Cassie felt around for her night gown that she wore outside of the bedroom when she was too lazy to call a servant to help her dress. She slipped it on over her head and felt around the collar to make sure the buttons were down the front. She felt around, found her walking stick and made her way to the door. Walking down the hallway she was grateful that she was on the first floor of the house along with the kitchen, the library, the master suite, the grand hall, the dining room, the drawing room, the foyer, and the music room, as well as three guest bedrooms. Stairs were the bane of her existence.

Making her way down the hall slowly, she had one hand on the wall and another on the stick thrust out in front of her as she waved it from side to side. She made it into the dining hall with no extra damage and found her way into a chair. Sitting down carefully, so as to not hurt her already sore back, she must have grimaced because she caught her parents attention.

"Are you alright, dear?" Charlotte, her mother, asked in a concerned voice. If she had been able to see her mother, she would have seen a rail thin woman with stark blonde hair and pinched features. She had just hit forty and although she looked good for her age, there was a weariness about her eyes that made her droop.

Making a non-committal noise in the back of her throat Cassie started at the clink of a plate and silver on the table in front of her.

"You should really answer your mother when she's talking to you." Cassie's father, Frank stated in an annoyed voice. Frank was a man of medium height with a heavy build and he had graying hair that was just beginning to thin. His face was constantly set into a stern expression and he was a few years older than Charlotte.

Cassie cast a dry look in his direction and sighed. Cassie and her father hadn't had a decent conversation that hadn't descended into a fight in four years, ever since she was twelve and he had hit her, the same day that she had learned she wasn't missing just color in her sight, she was missing her sight, plain and simple. Cassie hadn't really tried very hard to patch the relationship she had with her father, but then again, neither had he.

"Do either of you know what today is?" she questioned with exaggerated patience, secretly hoping that they had remembered her sixteenth birthday. All that she got was a heavy, if slightly guilty silence. She sighed, stood up, grabbed her walking stick and made her way slowly to the hallway that lead to her room, the library, and the music room, leaving her breakfast half eaten. She paused at the entrance to the hallway and turned slightly.

"Today is my sixteenth birthday, my Soul name came in early this morning. You'll have to ask some of the servant if your interested in knowing the name." She turned around and made her way down the hall. She put her free hand against the wall and started to count the doors. Her room was the second on the left in the small hallway and she almost always hit her hand on the door knob to her room. Cassie opened the door to her room and held it open long enough for the servant who was following her, with a basin of hot water, to make it through. The servant girl set the basin down and helped Cassie bath while another servant came in and started to pick out an outfit for her. When Cassie turned around for the servant to wash her back, she cursed herself for the curiosity she couldn't help but have and begrudgingly asked. 

"What's their name?"

The servant lifted her hair out of the way and washed gently along the area with the bar of soap and a cloth.

"Evan Kendall Hart"

~~~

It was two months after Evan's sixteenth birthday that one of his older brothers found their Soulmate. Jeremy, Evans second oldest brother, had been picking up an order of bread their mother had asked for earlier in the day when he felt someone bump into him and his world exploded in color. He had dropped the package of bread back onto the counter and turned to look at the person who had knocked into him. The man looked to be a year or two older than him and his blond hair fit well with his tan skin and even sitting on the ground and rubbing the back of his head, Jeremy could tell that the man was taller than him.

"Sorry, sorry I didn't see y-"The man froze mid sentence when he opened his eyes, turning his head this way and that before blinking a few times before looking up at Jeremy.

"Well, hell if I had known I was going to meet my Soulmate, I would've dressed up." The man muttered as he took Jeremy's out stretched hand and hauled himself to his feet, not letting go of the offered hand even with his restored balance, they stared at each other for a moment before a polite cough sounded behind them and they realized that they were holding up the line. Blushing and hurriedly paying for the package, Jeremy grabbed the man's hand and hauling him away.

"Alright, Sebastian, now what were you in such a rush about when you knocked int....."

Jeremy and Sebastian had stopped to talk on a rock that sat underneath an old willow tree, the area was off to the side of a long abandoned road and the two talked for a good hour. Jeremy's soul mark, reading _Sebastian O'Conner_ , was on his collar bone while Sebastian's, _Jeremy Edward Hart_ , wrapped around his bicep. Jeremy cursed upon realizing that he still had his mothers bread package and regretfully stood, apologized and started to rush off for home when Sebastian's hand on his arm stopped him. Jeremy stopped and turned to the other with a questioning look.

"Well, uh, maybe I could walk you home...?" Sebastian suggested hesitantly with his gaze fixed firmly on some moss that was covering the rock. The big man looked so timid that Jeremy had to laugh at his expression, Sebastian's head came up and he cast a hurt look in Jeremy's direction, letting go of his arm. Jeremy recovered from his bout of laughter and threw his arms around the pouting man's neck, kissing him soundly.

"Yes, yes you can walk me home, but do be warned, you'll have to meet my family." He said with a grin.

Jeremy's parents loved Sebastian upon meeting him and Evans yearning to find his One burst with a renewed passion. Hunter and Sebastian got on well, Hunter being a blacksmith and Sebastian being a masonry who worked with stone, brick, and block alike. He integrated quickly with everyone in the family and it became common to have him and his mother over for dinner. The men of the family would talk business and discuss prices while the women would sew or braid hair, adding input as they saw fit.

Evan liked Sebastian, he would tell Evan dirty stories when he thought no one else was listening, only to get his ears boxed by Mrs. Hart or Mrs. O'Conner when they got too raunchy. He would help Evan sneak bits of food out of the kitchen and would take the blame if they got caught. He even helped Evan get his apprenticeship to the jeweler in town. The thing Evan liked most about Sebastian though, was that he took good care of Jeremy. Sebastian always knew where he was and would pop in to say hi if he was having a bad day. When Evan would ask him how he knew Jeremy was upset, Sebastian would get a dreamy look in his eyes and shrug. He didn't know, something just hadn't felt right.

Just a little over a year after starting his apprenticeship, Evan was allowed to start making orders. He enjoyed fashioning brooches and necklaces, and sketching out designs for rings helped to calm him. He was a fast learner, quickly becoming very good at his craft and earning a small reputation for himself. A lot of his clients were old woman who enjoyed teasing him to no end while they shopped and their One's waited outside. The need to find his One was still there, but it had been muted. It was no longer number one on his list of things to accomplish in life and seeing in Color didn't really matter anymore since people who could see in color had always complimented him on how well he could match colors together without actually being able to see them.

It had been a fast paced day, Evan was working himself to death and had been sketching out ideas for a client all day. The lady he was designing three rings for was not a very attractive woman, she had long, lanky black hair and a hooked nose that didn't set well with her features and her...curves were spilling out of the tight matching jacket and skirt she wore, Evan secretly winced in sympathy for the buttons of the coat that had to strain to keep the fabric together. Of course, nothing he drew was good enough for her and she kept changing her mind half way through her order! It was infuriating! The lady's children had run amok through out the small shop and one of them hadn't stopped screaming since they had arrived. Evan pulled up all of his remaining patience and smiled at the woman, asking her to come back on a less busy day so that he could help her more thoroughly, wincing as the child's screams became even more high pitched.

The lady gathered up the little brats and left, declaring dramatically that she would be back. Evan sighed and turned to the next and last customers in line. The woman, who was almost unhealthily thin with shockingly pale blonde hair and thin features, a seamstress if Evan remembered correctly, stood talking to her husband who was a man of medium height with a heavy build and graying hair that was just beginning to thin, his face was set in a stormy expression and Evan recognized him as one of the accountants from his few visits to the bank, though he couldn't remember their surname for the life of him. He caught the tail end of their conversation.

"-forgot her birthday, we should get her something." The woman sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Her birthday was two months ago!" The man exclaimed. "Would it really make a difference to get her something now?"

"Frank, it's the thought that counts, dear." The woman said patiently and then turned and smiled at Evan. Evan smiled back and reached for one of the forms the couple would have to fill out.

"Good day, what can I help you with?" he asked, grabbing a quill pen and ink pot.

"We want some jewelry made for our daughter, a necklace to be exact, with red stones if you have any in." The woman said

"Alright I'll need to have you fill out this form-"

"what kind of form?" The man, Frank interrupted, glancing down at the sheet of parchment suspiciously.

"Frank!" The woman looked at her husband sharply "That was rude!"

"It's alright ma'm." Evan said "This sheet gives us the basic information of the size, shape, design, and lay out of the jewelry."

"Hmph, and why do you need her name?"

"Frank, you are being impolite!"

Evan mentally sighed "Again, quite alright. The names simply help us to stay better organized."

The man, Frank, cast him a doubtful glance before dipping the quill in the ink pot and scribbling out the information required, after much debate on colors and metals, they agreed on a basic design and the couple left. Evan glanced down at the paper and choked on his next breathe. There written on the top of the page in Frank's neat scrawl was her name.

Cassandra Marie Aldaine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So my head cannon is that if you don't want your Soul name, it hurts coming in.
> 
> Also, I am not blind, I have never been blind, I have no clue if i will ever go blind, so please for the love of the gods above and the abominations below do not relate anything I write as truth. I am making this up as I go along.

**Author's Note:**

> In my head if a child is born blind in this world, they get the choice to end their lives since they won't ever be able to see their One and/or Color. Many do, even if their Soul name appears on their sixteenth birthday. Please! please!please!please! If I am offending anyone, let me know and I will rectify the situation to the best of my ability. Rating may or may not change with the continuation of the story.
> 
> Now, before anyone blows their tops at me by saying _How can she read if she's blind_ If you read carefully it says, **She loved to read, her fingers brushing over the worn and wrinkled pages of long unused books** and also _a pile of books at her **finger tips**_
> 
> Braille is a thing people use, so ha.
> 
> Also if you do not like mentions of homosexuality, this story is probably not for you. In this universe, I have made it that only a small group of people are bothered by homosexuality between Soulmates, I have not however, planned out how this world reacts to homosexuality between non-Soulmates and if it will even be relevant to this 'verse.
> 
> A question to my reader(s), should I add unmarked people? People who have no Soul name or whose Soul name never filled in?


End file.
